Unexpected
by tortuga23
Summary: Still looking for Sloane and Sark, the CIA gets a tip, and it leads them off into a complicated backstory that holds the key to the backgrounds of some of the main characters. Sark tries to terminate the partnership, but Sloane has other ideas...
1. Unexpected

Unexpected  
  
The sun shines through the windows at the CIA rotunda. Vaughn introduces Sydney to a new member of Marshall's Tech Squadron: Brie Santiago, a pretty, energetic thirteen year old with curly blonde hair and shining blue eyes.  
"Sydney, this is Brie, our new Junior Tech Crewmember to help Marshall out a bit."  
"Hello, nice to meet you."  
"Hi… ditto!"  
"I hear you're only thirteen. How'd you end up here?"  
"Well, it's a long story -- I'm and orphan, so I've been thrown around the governmental system for a while now, but after my foster parents died, they decided to bring me here and make some use of my computer skills."  
"I'm sure you'll like it here."  
"Thanks! See you later!"  
Vaughn and Sydney look after the girl as she bounds across the room towards Marshall's desk, where he is waiting with a project. Vaughn and Sydney chuckle to themselves.  
"She's cute, isn't she?"  
"Yeah… really hyper, too."  
"So what was that about her foster parents dying?"  
"Poor kid… she's been adopted nine times. Can you believe that? Nine times! Her real parents died when she was four, and ever since then she's been shunted from family to family, each one mysteriously being eliminated after a couple of months. Apparently, no one wanted to adopt her anymore because they thought she was cursed-- so now she's staying at a CIA safe house and helping us out here."  
"What about school?"  
"Turns out she's a hyper genius… younger Marshall or something. She's smart enough to go through high school already, but she's being tutored anyway. I think Marshall's gotten quite attached. Hope he doesn't die."  
"Don't joke about stuff like that! I'm sure it's just coincidence with that family dying thing! Poor girl! Imagine having to live with THAT hanging over your head!"  
"And I thought that report due in a couple of hours was bad…"  
"Oh shut up."  
  
"So what's up, Marshall?"  
"Well… uh… it's this thing… we got this transmission from Echelon and I don't have time to decode it… got a… meeting… thing… You can come to the meeting too, get acquainted… but I'd like it if you could get a head start on that message thing."  
"Sure, Marshall. I'm on it."  
"Thanks."  
Marshall goes off to the presentation room while in the meantime, Brie takes the thick folder and sits down at her desk. She carefully opens the folder but its contents spill out anyway. She hums as she arranges the papers in a pile. Her cell phone starts to ring, and she answers it. "Hello? Hello?? Is anyone there? HELLO???!!!" Confused, she puts down her phone and begins to work on the message.  
  
Kendall paces around the briefing room, waiting while Marshall plays with the projector. Around the room are seated; Jack, Sydney, Vaughn, Weiss, Marshall, Brie, and a couple analysts.   
"As you all know, in a recent mission Agent Bristow managed to get Sloane's cell phone. These analysts have been analyzing the cell phone and making use of its call log and contacts list. We have been able to trace a great number of supposed allies of Sloane and Sark. Marshall?"  
"Uh… ally number one… heh, because that's what they are, allies, you know? Because, uh…"  
"Marshall?"  
"Ok yeah. Right. Focus. Okay, well here's the first slide. I pass it on to you, Minerva!"  
A middle-aged woman in a maroon business suit stands. She waits until Marshall finds his seat, then begins.  
"Parajua Mararujan, pronounced Parra-way-yah Mara-roo-hoo-yahwn, is a dangerous terrorist suspect. We believe that Mararujuan has made a deal with Sloane and Sark that will enable them to have access to millions of dollars in funds. Mararujuan was last contacted via Sark's cell phone a week ago. We believe they are planning a meet for tomorrow at the San Mirandez Bay in Southern Mexico."  
"And you'll be there. Please proceed, Minerva."  
"Thank you, Kendall. Anyway, there are a number of other suspects that are not of immediate importance. Most were last contacted more than a month ago, and while we still are tracing them, they are not the highest priority. However, there are some contacts who we were not able to identify. One is located here in Los Angeles, by the area code. For some reason we have not been able to find any records for this number."  
"Well why don't you just, uh… call them on a secure line or something?"  
"Marshall, that would be highly impractical, it would not only let them know that we are on their trail, but they might let Sloane or Sark know as well."  
"Miss, why do you care about this one person? You said it was not of high priority."  
"Well, Agent Bristow- this one is. We have recorded a call that was made the day we -er- apprehended the phone, which I believe was Wednesday."  
"Brie? You alright? Brie?"  
"Yeah, yeah… Sure, I'm fine, I just read this wrong, something about an elephant… Makes sense now…"  
"You sure?"  
"Yes… go on, I'm going to keep reading this, here… Try and make sense of this Echelon gibberish…"  
"So anyway-- I agree with Marshall, if the number's in this area, I think we ought to know who they are… soon! And if they're nothing more than an asset, then there's a good chance we can nab them before they have a chance to contact either Sark or Sloane!"  
"Yeah, Syd… you know that is starting to sound like a good idea…"  
"Thank you, Weiss."  
"But it's against protocol! We might let them know we're following them! They'll change the number! We can't take that risk!"  
"Well too bad! Risk or not, we've got to call them before this problem gets any worse!"  
"What problem??"  
"9... 8... 7... 2... 6..."  
"Wait!"  
"Okay, here it goes…"  
"What the hell?!"  
"Holy shit…"  
A little surprised, Brie looks up from her paperwork at everyone else as she reaches to answer her phone. "Yes?" Sydney hears Brie's reply through the phone, and she blinks a bit as she sets down the phone.  
"How?" 


	2. Connection

Connection  
Unexpected Part Two:   
  
"Brie? Have you been called by anybody… weird in the past few weeks?"  
"Uh… I guess so… Every now and then I'll get a call and there seems to be no one on the other line, but I just assumed that it was a wrong number."  
"How many times have you been called?"  
"Now that I think about it… I've gotten a lot of calls like that, if I remember correctly, and they all seem to have been when I've changed locations, like when I move from one adoptive family to the next. Heck, I just got one today!"  
"If it wasn't her, then the only thing I can think of is that Sloane has been calling her to trace her location and keep tabs on her whereabouts. If he called early today, he might be able to figure out that she's in CIA hands."  
"Do you have any idea, if this is true, why he would be tracing her?"  
"If I may interrupt-"  
"Go ahead, Minerva."  
"Well, in my humble opinion, it seems like Sloane might be planning an abduction of some sort, why else would he want to know where she was?"  
"But WHY?"  
"I honestly don't know, but don't worry, Brie, we'll get some agents on this and let you know as soon as a motive comes up. In the meantime, I think I'd like to request 24 hour surveillance of the CIA safe house where she's staying until we have anymore information."  
"I agree."  
"But!"  
"Brie, gather you're stuff, I'll take you home as soon as I finish cleaning up these slides…"  
"Why are they tracing me? What do they want?"  
"We don't know, Brie, go get your stuff."  
  
****  
  
Sark paced around the room while he waited for Sloane to arrive. The room was beautiful and exquisitely furnished, but Sark paid no attention. Sloane had broken their agreement, and Sark wanted out.  
"Ah! Sark, you wanted to tell me something?"  
"Yes. While I admit that the things you showed me were indeed wonderful, and that the opportunities were very, well, exquisite, I have decided to terminate our relationship. You did not follow the deal, and naturally, I do not wish to remain business partners."  
"But Sark! You cannot assume that a powerful man like me wouldn't occasionally snoop into your previous affiliations? Please reconsider. Please."  
"You give me no reason to. I'm out."  
"Well. When you hear my proposition, I think that you might reconsider."  
"Why? Nothing you could give me would make me reconsider."  
"I'm not talking about that. It's what I might take that could cause you to change your mind."  
"What?"  
"I beg you… change your mind."  
"Why?"  
"I don't want to have to do this…"  
"Have to do what? What can you do to me, hmmm? Try me! I've spent the last few years erasing anything- anything, that could possibly interfere with my work, and if you're intending to blackmail me, I assure you, you will not succeed!"  
"Really? Well then… have you made up your mind? I might as well take action."  
"Take action? What exactly are you planning? Tell me!"  
"Good day, Mr. Sark. I will see you soon."  
Sark pounds his fist on the table as Sloane leaves. He spends a few minutes pacing around the room again, trying to remember if there was anything he had overlooked. Indeed, he could not remember any way Sloane could blackmail him, even tracing back through his relatives and past relationships. But then, something came to mind. A face, a mere memory, yet all the same… so vivid… as if he'd seen that face many times before, but he couldn't remember when.  
He was suddenly launched into a deep black abyss as he struggled to remember. That face… it danced in front of his subconscious, just out of reach… He tried to grab for it, but could not grasp the memory. A memory appeared out from the back of his mind. Compartmentalization had hidden this vision, but now he was ready for it, and now it was free.  
Sark found himself sweating, and on the floor of an old townhouse. Sounds of the highway floated in through the window and tinkly piano tunes came from downstairs. Getting up with a groan, Sark descended the stairs, feeling something oddly familiar about this house. So cheerful and cozy, yet somehow, submissive. He came downstairs, and there she was. That face… she was sitting at the piano with another boy, older and around the age of eleven. Together they were merrily banging away, wailing the tune to some old song. Sark could not help but sing along.  
He walked up to the piano, but they did not or could not see him. "Luke! Aubrey!" came a voice from the kitchen. Luke… the name seemed vaguely familiar, but once again, he could not remember anything. "Coming, Mom!" yelled the boy, and both children lept of the piano seat, the boy, Luke, picking up his younger sister as they went.  
All of a sudden, there came a knock at the door, and the sound of breaking glass. Sark could hear the mother's scream as she ran from the kitchen, pleading with her children to escape out the front window. She gave them both a kiss and told the boy. "Look out for your sister!" Aubrey's started to wail. Luke's eyes were filled with terror, and so were Sark's. "I will, Mom. I will." He ran with them towards the window. There was another scream as the mother returned to the kitchen to give her children a chance to escape.  
"Where is he?!"  
"I don't know! I swear I don't know! Please don't hurt me…"  
"I know you know where he is! Tell me!"  
"I… I… I don't know! Please! Anything!"  
"Kill her."  
"No! Please!"  
"Go get the kids, maybe we can get something out of them…"  
"No! Never! Don't harm my children! They've done nothing! Do you hear me?! Nothing!"  
Sark paused. Luke had put his sister through the window, but when the gunshot reached his ears, he could not go out the window himself. He knelt by the window. "Run, Aubrey! You understand me? Run! Find someone to help us…" And he ran back towards the kitchen, but not after grabbing a gun from his mother's secret spot behind the bookshelf.  
Sark couldn't bring himself to listen anymore, but he looked back at the little girl. Her eyes were filled with tears. It seemed that for a moment, if anything, that she could see him. See him as if he was really there. Sark looked away, but when he turned back to her, she was gone. There were yells from the kitchen as the boy struggled. Sark could not stop the tear, it rolled down his face as he murmered, "I will." 


	3. Root Beer

Chapter Three: ??  
  
At home in her apartment, Brie twirled the phone cord around her finger.  
"Yes… so that's a large pepperoni and a medium Barq's root beer?"  
"Surely! How soon can you get here?"  
"Oh… 5 minutes… If I hurry.  
"Well hurry."  
"Okaay… see ya soon?"  
"See ya soon!"  
Brie squealed as she hung up the telephone. Dancing around, she turned her music back on and fixed her hair so it wouldn't droop down into her eyes. After a couple of minutes of teasing, she finally got her hair to stay put -- just in time to hear the phone ring.   
It was Robert Flechner, her "security guard". "Ma'am, there's a young man on the premises, and he claims to be delivering a pizza. Is that okay with you?" Exasperatedly, she told Robert, who she had dubbed Bubba, that the pizza guy was perfectly clean.  
"Heeey Josh! Got my pizza?"  
"Yep. Here's your root beer…"  
"Hey, come on in, it's kinda weird having Bubba stare you down."  
"Yeah, he's freaky, ain't he?"  
"Yep."  
"You've ordered pizza every night for the past three weeks, and every night I've delivered it too you. Should I just come tomorrow with the usual?"  
"Hah! Yeah… go ahead…"  
"Well, is that all? I hurried on over here, so I got 5 minutes before I have to run back…"  
"Okay, see ya tomorrow!"  
"'Kay, bye!"  
Josh meandered his way past the guard. Looking back, he saw Brie shut the door and open up her pizza. Stopping beyond the security gate, Josh surveyed the surrounding neighborhood. He watched Brie's shadow through the curtains as she took a sip of her root beer and turned on the T.V. The guard was busy with his own dinner, a bit of Taco Bell, to notice when Brie's limp form fell to the floor. All he heard was her scream. 


	4. Inconspicuous

Chapter Four: Inconspicuous  
  
The car swerved around the corner and Josh had to jump back to avoid getting hit. A man stepped out of the limo, a man with graying hair and very bad taste in clothes. Sloane. "Good job, Josh," said the man. "You have exceeded all my expectations. You may go now." "But-but what about her?" The boy stuttered. "Oh… she'll be all right, don't you worry. Now here's your paycheck… Is this what you expected?" The boys eyes widened at the amount of money. He couldn't possibly refuse an offer like this-- he would never have to deliver pizza again! He would never have to deliver anything again…  
One of Sloane's goons silenced the guard with a well placed bullet. Josh fought with himself, trying to decide if this was the right thing. Truly, for the past three weeks, he had not just been delivering pizza, he had learned to like the girl, and he could swear that she liked him as well. "I'm coming."  
"What? Dear boy, you cannot possibly think I'd let you come along… this is serious business…"  
"Well fuck business! She won't trust you! She doesn't trust anyone! That's why you hired me in the first place, because she trusts me."  
"Indeed. Well maybe you're right. I guess I could use another agent… get in the car."  
Josh pondered the word 'agent' for awhile. Just who was this Sloane? That was all the man had told him. Because of the guard and other measures, Sloane had come to him, both because Brie trusted him and because he was inconspicuous. And easy to pasy off. But not that easy. Now Josh was coming along, because now he was eager to figure out more about this man, and the money was even more of an incentive.  
  
****  
  
Sark stumbled around the room as his vision returned. Luke and Aubrey. Luke and Aubrey who? Who were these people? There was something so familiar about them, but he knew he was barely chipping the iceberg. It went much deeper than he thought.  
Alas, a newly discovered problem of compartmentalization. The only explanation he could come up with was that he had tried to forget this, early on in his life. But why? Could he be Luke? If so, then who was Aubrey? His sister? But she was dead… wasn't she? All of a sudden Sark was jolted back to reality. If Aubrey was alive, and he hadn't known about it before, then… Sloane might have figured it out as well. 


	5. The Abominable Baldman

Chapter Five: *shriek* Okay I don't know what the title will be yet, can you blame me? I haven't even started writing, yet? Well, officially… but anyway…  
  
Brie woke up to the sound of snoring. She rubbed her eyes and sat up. It was mid afternoon, to be sure. The sun came in through the windows. Looking around, Brie found that she was settled in a comfortably furnished train car. Josh was sleeping at her feet, and they were both on a pull out sofa bed.  
From the windows, Brie could tell she was on a train speeding through a desert, which one she could not tell. Brie struggled to remember how she had been knocked out, but then her keen ears picked up the sounds of conversation. She had to move herself a little in order to hear better, and Josh stirred at her feet. "Brie? Whaa? Wait…" He sat up with a jolt. "Where are we?!" "How in hell would I know, Josh, but somehow I got the impression that I was here because of you…" "Really? Well… isn't that downright special…" In a sudden movement that surprised her almost more than it surprised him, Brie grabbed Josh by the shirt collar and shoved him to the ground, rolling off the sofa herself.  
"Holy shit! You trying to kill me or what?!"  
"No Josh, why would I have any reason to do that?!"  
"Calm down, Brie! We're going to be alright!"  
"He paid you, didn't he?"  
"Now why do you think that?"  
"…maybe because the last thing I remember is drinking that root beer and collapsing to the floor!"  
"Well…"  
At this point Brie abruptly smacked him and then decidedly sat back on her haunches. She couldn't get mad at him right now. He might just be her only ticket out of this mess. "Where are we?" "I don't know. We boarded some train in Bangkok…" "Bangkok?!" "Yah… Bankok, or something like that… maybe it was Denver…?" Figuring that he was no help, Brie stood up, swaying a little because of the drugs.  
She carefully snuck out into the hall corridor, and was promptly knocked down by a guard. Josh stepped out too, obviously just as groggy as she. "Now… why'd'ja have at go an' do a thing like thaat," and he fell over.  
The guard grabbed her by the neck, pulled her from the floor, and hurled her back into the room she had just been in, but now there was someone else there waiting. "Hello Aubrey. Nice to see you awake at last." Picking herself off the floor as quickly as one can after being hurled around a train, Brie stood up and eyed the man.   
He was old, with gray hair and bald on top. Brie thought he looked kind of funny until he tucked his hand inside his jacket and pulled out a gun. "Now I think you need to sleep a little bit more before we can have a proper conversation…" He tried to shoot her with the tranq, but agile as she was, Brie ducked and rolled behind the sofa-bed. She spotted her things in bag in the corner, and next to them there was a gun.   
Quickly, she ran out from behind the sofa in a bold move, and in one smooth movement, grabbed the gun and bag and ran from the room, but through a different door this time. The man ran after her but she began shooting like a madwoman. "Take that, you horny bastard!!!!" And she ran and ran, screaming as she went. The bald man's goons started after her, and soon she came into a hallway and found herself cornered.   
Quickly formulating a plan, Brie ran kicked open the emergency exit, shouted "Toodles!!" and lept from the train. None of the thugs really wanted to chase after her, and soon the train was out of sight. 


End file.
